Kaijudo: Year 2
by primadonnabloodbath
Summary: It's been seven months after the Choten's defeat, and an entire year of dueling for Ray, Allie, and Gabe. Of course, things can only get harder from here on out as new threats emerge on both sides of the veil, and end up bringing up some rather unpleasant memories from the past.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Why am I starting a new series before I've even gotten halfway done with my current one? Good question! Because if I don't write this down now, I'll forget it. Crappy memory problems and all that. AND DAMNED WRITER'S BLOCK. But, I will update that story too, as it contains backstory, context, and information for a lot of what's going to happen in this one.

 **Disclaimer:** Still start too many stories without finishing them, still suck at writing romances, still don't own this show.

* * *

There wasn't much to say about this Saturday morning on September. It was fairly normal, no veil breaches, no Choten goons, no poisoning of the water supply. And why shouldn't it be, it had been a full seven months since the attempted San Campion takeover, and with the partial re-fortifying of the veil, not many creatures slipped through the cracks as much.

Granted, there had been a lot of work going into this newfound peace. Lots of rebuilding, re-unifying, peace treatments, peace treatments _within_ peace treatments due to an accidental word slip or harsh tone, but it had been all worth it for the sake of both worlds.

Pardons towards many creatures and newfound alliances sprung up in this wake, unified in their hatred of the Choten. Some believed he may still be alive, but in hiding, and would stop at nothing to reclaim his former glory, and exact a bloody and violent vengeance on his conquerors. But, the creatures of the realms refuse to let him get any sort of foothold, and scoured the 5 civilizations, searching in every nook and cranny to annihilate him once and for all, if he still remains.

The Choten doesn't matter now, but those injured that he left in ruins in his chaotic path of violence can still feel the aftermath of his presence. Raiden Pierce-Okamoto himself had joined with the first few scouting missions, to make doubly certain that his family would never be torn asunder once more. The 5 masters made sure that Alakshmi Verma herself was properly taken care of, and given a stable living environment albeit with some help of their own.

And Ken Okamoto, who had found both an equal hatred and respect for the creature realm due to circumstances beyond his control, was busy sleeping in. It wasn't like he'd anything else much to do, considering his own healing process (and hair regrowth) and polite resignation from the Order of The Duel Masters. But, something was keeping him just on the tipping edge of consciousness and slumber. Distant arguing voices, mostly.

"…sure you don't need any help?"

"Yeah, it's fine just… I can do this, okay?"

"Well, no offense, but the last time you tried this, the results were…"

"You guys just wait in the other room, I'll call you if I need anything, alright?"

The voices died down, but a certain urge prevented him from falling asleep again. He rolled over, trying to see if it was his position for a few seconds, before returning to his original starting slump. He groaned, still half-asleep and rubbed his eyes. And then, a loud frightened yell from his son and the sound of fire blasting upwards caused him to rapidly jolt out of bed.

"Raiden!" He yelled, nearly tripping over the bedsheets that he dragged along with him by accident. He rushed down the stairs as fast as possible, and rushed towards the billowing cloud of dark black smoke emerging from the kitchen. Catching his breath, he stood in the doorway, covering himself with the sheet with one hand, and clutching onto the side of the doorway with the other. "Raiden, what's going on?!"

"No, no, no! Don't come in!" Ray yelled back in response, shutting off the stove and scraping a gooey black substance out off the bottom of a frying pan with a spatula. The death grip on both objects only seemed to tighten as Ray tried to hide what he was doing. "Just go back to bed, it's fine!"

Ken's fear and concern quickly faded away into confusion and fatherly regard. "It's alright, just had me worried, that's all." He inhaled and exhaled deeply. "But, what exactly are you doing?"

Ray took a deep breath, and gestured a bit with the spatula as he spoke. "Well, mom's out for her run, and Grandpa and Uncle Isao went out to breakfast together because they feel like they really haven't been spending much time together, they didn't want to wake you up, so they said they would bring something back, but I didn't know if it'd be cold or not, so I tried to make you breakfast in bed myself, and, uh…" He motioned towards the tar-like substance in the pan. "Yeah, didn't turn out too well."

Ken gently placed a hand on Ray's shoulder. "It was a touching gesture, and I appreciate it. Just, please try not to go too far with things. Wouldn't want you to end up making a fool of yourself."

"Okay, that's more than Ray's dad that I needed to see." Allie's voice suddenly muttered from behind them.

Apparently, the other voices that he'd heard while half-asleep had belonged to Ray's friends. And the both of them accidentally ended up getting a clear view of Ken's bruised and half-healed back scars, as well as seeing him in his boxers from behind. The end result was an extremely flustered and bright red Mr. Okamoto rushing back upstairs, calling down "Just be sure to clean up after you're done!"

Gabe and Allie uncovered their eyes after the sound of retreating footsteps slowly faded away. Ray dejectedly placed the pan and spatula in the sink and started to clear the table of plates with a sigh. Gabe, attempting to lighten the mood, said "Well, at least this won't totally go to waste. I'm sure we can reuse these burnt eggs as some kind of fuel."

"Eggs?" Ray asked. "Gabe, those were supposed to be pancakes!"

After the mishap at breakfast, Ray, Gabe, and Allie had left to meet Lucy at the smoothie shop, for a casual hang-out outside of school and dueling. The four of them were currently talking about their respective lives, obsessions, and general anxieties over their studies. But, they could always laugh it off and just enjoy each other's company. After a few minutes of general small talk, Lucy tapped the side of her grape and cherry smoothie with her straw, and held it up.

"A toast," she said. "To surviving the first week back to school!" Allie and Ray cheered and tapped their smoothies to hers.

Gabe shook his head. "It honestly wasn't that bad you guys, I honestly liked getting back to a sort of structure in my daily routine... but... eh." He tapped his smoothie to the others with less vigor and sat it back down in front of him harder than he should have.

"Ehh, I think we've got enough of a routine with our dueling stuff," Lucy said, putting her straw back in. "But then again, pop quizzes are still a little more stressful than banishing creatures, especially if you've gotten so used to it, like you guys."

"It's only been a year," Ray said, right before he took a sip of his smoothie. Which he immensely regretted, as Gabe and Allie yelled back "A YEAR?" causing him to nearly choke on orange and lime slush.

"Yeah, I thought you guys knew," Ray said, collecting himself. "I mean, isn't that why we came here in the first place?"

Allie and Gabe were quiet for a minute. Had it really been an entire year since they'd joined Kaijudo, learned about the coming war, and were nearly flattened by Flametropus? It all seemed to have happened so fast, but there was still so much of it that it had hardly felt real. Lucy was even more confused, having started about two months after they had.

"Well, technically, it was yesterday," Gabe said softly, after a long pause. "I mean, you were the one that was the naturally talented duelist, and you summoned a hybrid as the likes that none of them had seen before!"

"And you convinced us to stay after that! We wouldn't know anything if it wasn't for you!" Allie added, trying to keep her voice down as well. "Man, this calls for some kinda celebration, doesn't it?"

"I'm sure the masters would appreciate it," Lucy said, grinning. "You're practically their kid! Saved their backs a bajillion times, and the world too."

While these four were coming up with possible Kaijudo Anniversary palns, outside the shop stood a young boy with a letter in this hands. It was Kevin, a young boy that went to Ray's school. He gulped, looking between the letter he held in his hands, and through the window to see Lucy, laughing happily among her friends.

He tensed up, unsure of what to do, or where to even start. He didn't want to interrupt what they were talking about, but he didn't want to scare her by apparently waiting for her outside. He took a deep breath, and walked into the shop, holding his head high and the letter tight. Over to the booth he walked, his confidence shrinking with every step he took.

"Oh, hey, Kevin!" Ray called, looking up and over at him. Kevin froze, nearly dropping the letter as he stared in response. Allie and Ray scooted over a little so that he could sit with them. He cleared his throat and walked to the seat, sitting down and looking at the table, surprised he'd gotten this far.

"Hey. Uh, hey, Lucy?" He said, holding up the letter. "I found this. It's for you. At least I think it's for you, I dunno. I found it from someone's backpack. I-I didn't steal it, but I just found it. I think they wanted you to have it, so…" HE placed the letter on the table and scooted it over to her, internally panicking.

"Oh! Uh, thanks. That's cool." Lucy said, looking at the letter. It was a soft pastel green, with her name written in cursive. The tongue was held down with a golden heart sticker which shimmered a little bit in the light. "Guess I have some kinda secret admirer!"

"Sure looks like it!" Kevin said, getting up from the table. "Well, I'd better be going, wouldn't want to annoy any of you."

"Nah, it's alright. You can stay, you're not annoying!" Allie said. "It's not exactly a private party here."

"I'll get you a smoothie, just sit tight!" Lucy said, sticking the letter into her front pocket. Kevin stifled a groan as he sat down. Things weren't at all going the way he'd planned. But hey, at least he was with friendly company, that was always nice.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I have no idea why I make the opening few chapters so short in my multis, I guess I don't really have much to say when i'm building up to the chapters I'm most interested in. Also, I knew this fic wasn't dead yet!

* * *

And, as the five of them proceeded to talk about completely normal things that completely normal teenagers would, there was already another young acolyte in the thick heat of battle, already at the dojo. Alakshmi Verma, unlike Ken Okamoto, had decided that she would stay a duelist in order to keep the peace, as well as defend herself from any further attempts on her life. The 16-year old herself was currently in the midst to sparring with one of her teachers, Master Nadia Lobachevski, as two others watched from the sidelines.

"I certainly appreciate that she's branching out into other specialties," Master Kimora said to Master Chavez as they watched the battle, taking in every attack, defense, and offense. "But, is it just me, or does she seem to be pushing herself a bit harder than usual?"

"I don't think she's doing it on purpose, but there's probably a good reason for that," Master Chavez replied, eyeing the Light creature that she'd summoned to battle Rusalka. "Considering she majorly uses the enemies of Light, her tactics aren't resonating too well with it. And it was true, even as she landed hits and dodged with ease, the sentinel didn't seem to like her bossing it around, giving off a few annoyed zaps as she tugged and yanked her gauntlet, causing it to jerk around just as much. But, what she had managed was to knock the Water Master off her feet with a quick blast.

She walked over to Nadia, who was lying flat on her back and groaning a smidge, in slight pain. She smirked and said "Well, it looks like you forgot that oh-so important rule: If you take out the duelist, the battle's over half as fast!"

"And have you forgotten both that and not to take your eyes off your creature?" Nadia asked. Before Alakshmi could respond, Rusalka blasted her downwards with a physic blast, and spewed needles at the sentinel, banishing it before Alakshmi could get up. The Water master then lifted herself up off the ground, dusting off her coat, and extended a hand to help up her student. But, her student got up on her own and growled angrily.

"Oh, come on! I'm never going to get the hang of this, am I? I'll always be playing second fiddle to a group of children who're always one step ahead!" She kicked the ground in frustration, as Nadia attempted to calm her down a bit.

"Is that really what this was all about?" Nadia asked concernedly. "That you feel inferior to the-"

"It's not that I feel inferior to them, it's that I feel like a massive joke!" Alakshmi lowered her voice, trying to at least attempt to be respectful. "I have been dueling for six years and I haven't made one rung up in this little dueling pantheon, and they've only been at it for a few months, and they're already adepts! I've started from square one, and it just feels like the entire world is mocking me."

"Don't compare yourself to them," Nadia said, placing a hand on Alakshmi's shoulder. "It isn't your fault. Everyone learns at a different pace, and that doesn't make them any less talented than anyone else." The teen thought about this for a second, and nodded. It was the least she could do without directly telling her to shut up. "Is that why you used a Light creature?"

"Actually, I just wanted to see if any of them would even bother to listen to me," Alakshmi chuckled. And her gaze lifted when she saw Raiden, Allison, Gabriel, and Lucy enter the arena. "And, if you'll excuse me." She ran over to the edge of the coliseum, and hastily climbed up it.

"Hey, Shmi!" Lucy said, as she sped over to her. "You'll never guess what day it is today!"

"Did I miss a birthday or something?" She coolly asked, a bit puzzled by her sudden hyper-perky attitude in comparison to her normal laid-back one.

"Well, kind of!" Gabe replied. "It's been one entire year since our introduction to Kaijudo, err, at least mine as well as Allie's. Lucy is a little behind, and Ray is a little ahead." Lucy nodded cheerfully. Alakshmi, taken a bit aback by the news, gave a sort of forced smile. She knew that this was a big deal, as well as a happy celebration for them, but it only managed to make her feel all that more down about her own dueling problems. But, it wasn't enough to fully depress her, only for a bit of mild annoyance that everything seemed to be making fun of her.

"Congratulations," She said, in a voice that bordered on saccharine and barely repressed rage. "I'm sure we'll have a huge celebration in your honor, with cake and streamers." Avoiding direct eye contact with the two of them, she could see Allie and Ray speaking with Chavez and Kimora, no doubt informing them the same. "Go on with whatever you're doing, don't mind me." She said as she walked away from the groups.

Ray noticed her, and called out "Wait, Alakshmi! Don't you want to-?" She cut him off bluntly by yelling back "I'm out-dueled for the day, I won't be a bother." Ray watched her leave, feeling a bit guilty for some reason. What'd he say or do to make her feel so off today? He wanted to follow, but he was interrupted once again by Gabe's phone lighting up, as Sasha emerged from it with a loud angelic chorus.

"Gabriel, you and your friends are required…" she said, before taking in the atmosphere. "I apologize for any sudden interruptions, but there is a rather large uprising on the area of the Nature Realm directly beneath the Light Civilization, and it is not one of the usual tribe disputes."

"Well, so much for a peaceful anniversary." Allie grumbled. But, she knew that considering the last 'uprising' in the Kaiju Realm that went unchecked didn't exactly go very swimmingly, that this was a bit more important that just lounging around and relaxing.

Ray nodded. "Alright, let's- oh no." He'd reached into his backpack, only to realize that it wasn't his, if the notebook labelled 'Kevin' was anything to go by. He groaned in annoyance. "Oh, come on, not now! Must've accidentally got them switched at the smoothie shop." And, even with a small twinge of worry that Kevin might find his gauntlet, he knew that he wasn't that type of kid. "I'll just, uh, get a practice gauntlet…"

"Guess some things never change." Gabe said softly as Ray sheepishly made his way out of the coliseum.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I've been neglecting this story, and BOY, I do regret that! I'm mostly in a rut where it would be far too early to show what I want to, but I don't know what to add in while keeping it linear. Also, thanks for all the reviews! Dear Sami-SDGForce, I don't actually know what mpreg is, but I'll see if adding it into the story would detract from the main plot I have once I find out exactly what it is.

* * *

Once the four of them had gotten into the Nature realm (and Raiden had procured a training gauntlet), Gabriel began to question Sasha on exactly what the dispute was all about, as they all rode on Bob and Squeaky. She told him that a unit of the Bronze-Arm Tribe had been attacked by a mechanical beast that they assumed was a Light creature, as they could not and did not recognize it as a Fire or Water creature.

"But the strangest part of all of this, there is no reason for there to be any sort of Light Creature here," she continued as the children listened. "Even here, all of our kind remains above the clouds, and we have no logical intention to attack a peaceful settlement, even if they are directly below us."

"So, it may be an attempt to get the both of you to turn on each other," Gabe rationalized. "The real question is, why would somebody do that?"

"I'll tell ya why!" called out a voice from in front of them. The creatures skidded to a halt, a bit startled by the sudden outburst. Once the dust had cleared, they saw a Bronze-Arm Tribesman, in a cloak and tunic, wielding a sword. He brandished it before them, and in realizing they meant no harm, placed it back in its sheath on his belt. "It's because he's come back."

"He?" Lucy asked, hopping off of Squeaky. "You're gonna have to be a little more precise with who you mean by 'him', you know."

He rolled his eyes and huffed incredulously. "Oh, you know. Him! The blonde-haired demon that tried to turn us all into zombies! Brainwashed the flippin' Water Monarch himself into his little puppet!"

Ray and Allie shared a short look at this statement, and Bob groaned loudly, putting a hand up to his face. Ray tapped his shoulder, and Bob then pulled him off his back. "This isn't still about that 'covert' mission, is it?" asked the hybrid creature. "The one where we and your little search party ran themselves completely ragged over a wild goose chase?"

The tribesman seemed taken aback at Bob's blunt assumption, almost offended for him to refer to it as such. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry! I wasn't aware that you didn't care about a madman possibly still being on the loose, ready to torment innocent creatures! Besides, we have proof, so I suggest you watch yourself." He pulled out his sword again, and Bob growled tensely. Ray could already sense that things were going to go south fast, so he quickly stood between the two, raising empty hands.

"Alright, alright! Why don't we just… go look at the evidence, right? It's the least we can do." The final sentence was punctuated with a sharp glance over at his partner, as well as the others behind his partner. They all nodded or agreed, and bob crossed his arms. But, he went with them back to the camp, where the Bronze-Arm Tribesman led them into a rather large tent, where they could all see this 'proof' of his.

And, it was more they had could have ever expected. It was a large silver and white robot, vaguely resembling Aqua Seneschal were it not for the lack of any hands or feet. Where those were nothing but torn up cables, or severed hunks of metal that had been bent in and twisted, most likely from a battle. It was chained down gratuitously, almost unable to budge or even move other than a few jerks up or down. Its bright blue 'eye' darted around the room, and stared directly at the kids that had come in, the 'pupil' dilating as it took in their expressions.

"Oh, man. You weren't kidding about having proof!" Allie said, eyes wide and horrified. "What the heck even is this thing, which civ would even make this?!" Lucy stayed behind her, a bit worried what it might do if she got any closer.

"It is not a creature," Sasha said, just as scared as her. "It is not alive! I am sensing no mana output nor input from it. And yet, it moves just like one of us. No wonder these Nature creatures would be startled by it." Gabriel and Ray towards the false creature, and Gabe pulled out his updated phone to scan its shell, while Ray looked over it, not sure what to make of it in the slightest.

"Judging by the scan, this metal isn't even native to the creature realm! The base material definitively came from Earth. At the very least, it may be a combination of metal from this side of the veil and from our side. I've never seen anything like it before." Gabriel said. He was very interested in how the metal could have been formed, but felt a smidge guilty about it, being as it was being used for evil.

Ray, out of habit, touched the robot's stomach, trying to heal it with his gauntlet. The robot's arm lunged upwards, snapping free one of the chains as Ray yelled, trying to wrest his arm from its grasp. The other three kids gasped, and Allie and Lucy began trying to tug Ray away from it, while Gabe started to attempt prying the arm off of him. But they were knocked back as it unearthed its other arm, and pulled Ray close up to its face.

"Don't test me, boy." It uttered in an emotionless, mechanical tone. Ray activated his gauntlet, and the robot's shell began to crack and peel away, until it released. Ray gasped for air as he shoved himself away from the now unmoving pile of wires, and fell to the floor. It twitched for a seconds, residual mana seeping from where it's face used to be, and then shut down permanently.

"I shall take it to the Light Civilization," Sasha said, levitating the remains. "And I will inform the Cyber Lords of what has transpired here. She exited the tent, and the kids followed her out, with Allie helping walk the still woozy Ray outside. Both Bob and the tribesman stared as Sasha returned back to her Civilization with a flash. The hybrid snorted, having only seen the remains, and sarcastically asked "Don't tell me that was your only proof?"

"It was," Ray said, having regained his bearings. He was just about has tense as the creatures had been, and wondered what the false creature's ultimatum had meant. "Don't test me, boy." Had the Choten really returned, and was making these mechas to terrorize the creatures?

Meanwhile, Kevin was on the bus, going back to Ray's house after he'd accidentally picked up his bag. He was nervous as ever, worried that Raiden might accuse him of stealing it, but it was an honest mistake! He checked again to make sure that the pack was indeed not his own. Yes, there was Ray's sketchpad, and a few comics, and… a black half glove? He pulled out the glove, examining it all over; he recognized the symbol on the top, but he didn't know exactly where it was from.

He put it back in the pack, shrugging it off as probably some sports logo, which had to make the most sense. He also didn't want anyone thinking that he was going through someone else's belongings. And when he'd reached his stop, he got off, went straight into the neighborhood, placed Ray's bag on his front doorstep, and left without a second thought, even though the thought of what exactly that symbol meant still lingered.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Now we're getting to my favorite part. I've been planning this one out for months! Also, I've discovered what Mpreg is! Yeah... I don't think i'll be able to put that in the story while still keeping to the plot, sorry. I don't even know how long the pregnancy cycle for porcupine-lion-dragon-monsters is, anyways.

* * *

Alakshmi, after her ever-so-graceful self-excusing from Kaijudo training, had gone straight to her job at the coffee shop. Sure, she'd called today off for that exact reason, but she figured that she could just lie and say that she meant to take off another day. She needed to blow off some steam, and this was the perfect place to do it, both literally and metaphorically. Her workday went by slowly, barley any of the customers or workers asking her too many questions, and she could breathe a sigh of relief here.

That is, until a familiar face walked in, of someone she hadn't expected to see for years to come. Fingers, who was significantly better dressed than she was used to. How utterly convenient that he was here on the 1 year anniversary of Raiden's dueling. She glared at him from behind the counter as she watched him order a drink and sit down at one of the tables, until one of her co-workers tapped her on the shoulder, telling her to bring out the latte and biscuit.

With a near death-grip on both foodstuffs, Alakshmi proceeded to march straight for the table, setting down them both with a dull thud on the table. She sat down at the table in the seat directly in front of him, keeping her gaze steady as he looked up and gave her a sly smile. "Hey," he said, before taking a sip of his drink. Gently putting it down, he asked "You want a tip or something, toots?"

"Don't play coy," she spat back, as he waved a hand condescendingly in front of her face to see if he could divert her gaze. "I know you wouldn't just show up here for no reason. So, I suggest you start talking." She stood up, looming over him. "Or I will make you."

Fingers blinked. And then, broke out into laughter, as Alakshmi's glare finally broke into disgusted confusion. After he'd caught his breath, he looked back up at her, and yanked a pen from his jacket. "Listen, babe, you got the wrong guy. I don't know what he did to you, but you've got some issues, girl." He said, messily scribbling something on a napkin. He handed it to her with a flick of the wrist. "Gimme a call if you wanna scream at me again, okay?"

And then, he left with his biscuit and drink, leaving her with the napkin. Written smack-dab in the center was "Joseph Morrigan" and a phone number. She crumpled it up and put it into her back pocket, grumbling to herself. "Lemme guess, ex-boyfriend?" one of her co-workers asked. "Something like that," she said.

The next day, Alakshmi went straight to the dojo, and shoved the napkin with the phone number in the face of the nearest duel master she could find. This unfortunate duel master happened to be Kimora, who had no idea what was going on, until he received a hasty explanation of the coffee shop visit from the young girl.

"And you want me to call him? Like some sort of tattletale?" He asked, after he'd been brought up to speed. "No," Alakshmi said, unamused. "Just let him know that he'd better watch his back if he tries anything funny! And believe you me, he will."

Kimora rolled his eyes, but dialed the number into his phone. Two rings sounded off before Fingers answered. And thus, what had to be the most awkward phone conversation (or any conversation, really) of Kimora's life ensued.

"Uh… yes. Hello? Hi, alright. Uh, I'm talking about the coffee shop thing that happened yesterday. Sorry, calling about. You know what I mean. I'm… this is. Uh. This is her father speaking. What are your intentions with my… daughter? No, look! Yes, she's had a very rough life. Well, I mean, there was a man involved, but… not like that, okay. Alright? Alright. No, she isn't, actually! That's extremely derogatory to say that! Look, let's just… no. No, no, no. Just stop. Fine. Goodbye." He hung up, and took a deep breath as Alakshmi could only stare wide eyed at what had just happened.

"Why… did you just say you were my father, exactly?" she asked after a very pregnant pause.

"I panicked, okay?" He said, quickly walking away as his face slowly started turning bright red. Well, he was of no use, she seemed. She soon realized that it was more than time to change tactics, and she knew just who to get for this situation. Of course, all she needed to do was to find him, first; but Alakshmi had a good idea of where he was.

Gabriel was in Master Nadia's laboratory, studying the chunk of metal that he'd been given by the Cyber Lords after they were able to examine it as well as check it for any possible radiation or other toxic emissions when it decomposed. From what he could see, it appeared to be a fusion between chrome, Water Civilization and fire Civilization metals, and titanium. None of these fusions could have happened in nature, they all would need to be man-made, but by who?

Gabriel's train of thought was derailed when he heard a knock at the door. Before he could get up, Alakshmi let herself in, practically stomping towards him with an ultimatum: "You need to help me track down Fingers. I've got a feeling that he's planning something." Gabriel nearly dropped the sample on hearing this. "Wait, Fingers is back, too?"

"Ugh, he met me at work, and gave me his number, and… Wait. What do you mean by 'too'?"

Gabe gulped, and quickly tried to backpedal. I mean, uh, there's this new threat to the Kaiju Realm, and I thought, 'hey, you know who else was evil? Fingers!' and then you mentioned him, and. Hm." He sighed. "Okay, I'll help. But this had better not turn into another sting operation against The Choten's nonexistent forces."

"Who ever said anything about the Choten?" Alakshmi asked, a bit amused by his slip of the tongue. Gabe squeaked when the gear clicked together and covered his mouth. But, after a bit of triangulation with the IP address of the call, they made their way to a rather large mansion, with a sturdy metal gate. "This can _not_ be the place!" Alakshmi yelled, completely shocked. "There's no way he lives here, no way."

"Gargle is not wrong. Perhaps friend Shmi should have eyes checked!" Gargle said, popping from Gabe's backpack. She gave a deep sigh, but pulled out her gauntlet, summoning Razorkinder Puppet to slice the gate door open. She walked through the now open gate, Gabe following suit, quietly apologizing to his parents and his own morals for breaking and entering as a seemingly foreboding drizzle of rain began.

The four of them heard a door slowly creak open and then slam shut, and the duelists steadied themselves for a battle, getting into defensive stances. But, all that came around the corner was Fingers, wholly unarmed, and utterly shocked upon coming across the random girl that threatened him at the coffee shop, some fat kid, and two multicolored patchwork demons. He then proceeded to pass out cold on the concrete parkway, much to the duelists' mutual shock.

"I knew this was a bad idea, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" Gabe whispered as he rushed over to Fingers and examined him. Upon his head were three suction marks, still bright red and bruised. Alakshmi walked over and stared in horror at the marks, realizing that she may have made a massive mistake. Hefting the unconscious teenager over her shoulders, she gestured to Gabe to help her get him inside, before anybody could see what had happened.

"So, that's why he didn't know what you were talking about at the coffee shop!" Gabe said, after the two had gotten him inside and onto a couch. The rain was pouring down at this point, thumping loudly on the roof as Alakshmi dabbed Finger's forehead with a damp, warm towel. "And, why he used his real name, rather than his nickname when he gave you his number!"

"For once, my intuition was wrong," she said, a bit embarrassed with herself. "I guess I got so sued to the worst case scenario, I couldn't tell it apart from some creep hitting on me." She looked down at him. "But, why would someone take his memories. What would he have to offer?" Fingers groaned as he shifted awake, Alakshmi still dabbing his forehead. She yelped and recoiled immediately when he looked up at her, nearly flopping off of the couch.

"Ugh, my head." Fingers groaned. "What happened…?" He looked around the room and saw Gabriel and Alakshmi. "Ugh, and what are you doing here? I could've sworn you wanted me dead. Or, at least your dad did."

Alakshmi rolled her eyes. "Well, excuse me for accepting a friendly offer!" she said, internally cringing at the thought of her and fingers being an item. "I just came by to maybe see if we could see a movie or something, but I guess you tripped and nearly got a concussion. I'm surprised you still remember your own name."

Fingers believed the lie, but then pointed at Gabe. "Alright, but who's that kid? What's he got to do with anything?"

"Tutoring," Gabriel and Alakshmi said in sync, spooking each other out. Gabe continued "Well, I'm helping her with Geometry, she's helping me with Social Studies, and it's a mutual… tutorial. Between the two of us." He smiled awkwardly. Fingers leaned back on the couch, chucking to himself. "Hey, she's got brains and a heart. I got lucky."

"You certainly did," Alakshmi said, pushing Gabriel out the front door. "Well, you seem to be doing a lot better, so I guess I'll see you when I see you! Goodbye!" She slammed the door behind herself, and took a deep breath. "We shall never speak of this again."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Hi, allow me to introduce myself. My name is "I'm An Idiot That Forgot About My Own Stories", esq. Seriously, I completely forgot about updating this one, and about the PnF fic's total existence, and I really apologize for that. The other fic will be updated later tonight, if time allows.

* * *

Needless to say, the current monarchs of the Kaiju Realm weren't exactly happy with Sasha and Gabe's discoveries. Allie and Isao had practically been dragged across the veil by their ankles to an emergency meeting, to which they would stand as go-betweens for the panicking rulers. Finbarr, Skycrusher, Jazuri, Gregoria, and Bronze-Arm Tribesman stood around the table, loudly debating on what should be done, and what these new developments meant for them.

"It would be the greatest course of action to devise a sort of opposite to these mechanical menaces!" Jazuri proclaimed, slamming her hands down on the table. "No matter what their origin, they must be stopped."

"No matter their origin?!" Skycrusher screeched. "You fool! Taking out the army is no large feat when it's the general you should focus on! Obviously, we need to seek them out first!"

"Oh, yes, go right for the teeth," Gregoria sardonically responded. "If so, what if it truly is the Choten, returning in a blaze of glory. I doubt he'd just sit out and wait for us to come knocking, he's a lot more cunning than you assume."

"His cunning is of no matter." Stated Finbarr. "If he was willing to ambush a settlement with only one beast, who knows if we even could take on an army?"

"If it is him," Bronze-Arm Tribesman said dully. And then, their arguing proceeded to overlap and increase until the two humans in the room couldn't make heads or tails of what anyone was trying to say. Allie quietly rested her head on the table and groaned, memories of the past 'truce' ebbing at the corners of her mind. Isao painterly waited for a pause in the conversation, keeping a steely glare on his surroundings.

"If I may," He said, after a large enough silence had passed. "I must respectfully agree with Magistrate Jazuri. It would do us better to find a sort of 'antidote' to these beasts before we pry any further. Something of this magnitude would benefit from a little stockpiling of our own."

"And you aren't affected by any bias, hm?" Gregoria asked, crossing her arms.

"Nah, I agree with him, too," Allie said, pulling her head up. "Look. Whoever is doing this is obviously trying to get everyone in a frenzy! We just gotta show them that we're not going to take it lying down, alright?" The entire room was silent after this declaration, until Finbarr broke the silence.

"Unless…" His telepathic voice trailed off as he shook his head. "Never mind. We will take your arguments into consideration, duel masters. Thank you for your time." Allie nearly bolted from the table, dragging Isao by the arm as she opened up a portal back to the human world. As the other monarchs left to their respective civilizations, Jazuri clapped Finbarr on the shoulder. "There is something bothering you. What did you mean to say?"

"I…" He looked around, waiting for the others to leave. "I was planning on merely suggesting we awake the original Creature Monarchs. But, the mayhem caused by their sudden return nearly did both realms in previously. It would not be worth it, in the end, even if it would yield positive results."

"They reside in the Null Zone as of current. Going there alone would be a suicide attempt, if anything." Jazuri quietly agreed, and they went off to their realms. But, the thoughts and possibilities still lingered in their heads, even if they would hate to admit it.

* * *

Allison yawned deeply as she walked into her house, rubbing her eyes from readjusting to the light. Once her vision had cleared, she became aware that someone else was in the house, aside from her and her dad. The other woman was sitting on the couch with her father, two mugs of coffee on the table before them, as she softly spoke about her daily goings-on. She looked up, and her father too, noticed Allie and waved to her to come over.

"Oh, Allison. I didn't think you'd be back so early from your karate lesson! This is Ariana, she's our new head of security at the bank. Our, uh, old guy quit after being convinced he was seeing things. Decided it was high time to retire, I guess."

Ariana stood up, and held out her hand. "It's wonderful to meet you, Allison! From what I hear, you're your father's pride and joy." Allie, blushing a little bit, shook Ariana's hand slowly, not sure how to approach this. "Uh, thanks. I'm sure you're… really good at what you do, too?"

She chuckled sweetly, and then a short buzzing sound emitted from her earpiece. "Hold on," She said, taking her hand away and tapping it to the metal piece. She stayed quiet for a second, listening to closely, and then said "Alright, I'll see what I can do." Looking back down at Allie and putting her hand down, she gave a short bow. "And speaking of what I do, duty calls! I will be seeing the both of you later," She said, punctuating the 'you' with a wink directed at Allie's father as she left.

"Nice to see you're dating again," Allie said warmly, as her father sighed wistfully. "And talking me up to her." He stuttered, a bit embarrassed. "Well, uh, this is a professional agreement… a talk, we're just talking about job... things. I don't know if she'd be ready for, um. Yeah." Allie giggled as she walked up to her room, leaving her dad flustered and still stuck trying to come up with excuses.

Across town, as the sun set, Carny and his goons were in a sort of meeting with another kid. Apparently, he wanted to join their crew of bullies, but he first had to pass an 'initiation ceremony' in one of Carny's dad's older warehouses. The inside was absolutely pitch black, and scattered with remnants of the former pipes and machines.

"The way I see it, you've got to stay in there for half an hour, and you'll prove that you're not chicken," Carny said. "Better yet, you go up into the rafters! Maybe you'll make friends with all the bats!"

"What, no!" the kid said. "Dude, I could die! Those things are crazy rusted." Carny huffed and shrugged as he walked away with Nickels and Sykes. "Awh, too bad. Guess you can't roll with us." But, his arm was suddenly grabbed and twisted. As he turned to see the kid grabbing his arm, his gaze shifted to a more mocking sneer. "I dare you to go up there. I double dare you."

The kid let go, growling a bit at the other bully, as he walked over to the heavy metal doors. He took a deep breath, and opened it. Much to his surprise, the dark room lit up with tiny sets of silver dots. These silvers dots then flashed bright red, as they revealed themselves to be attached to a massive horde of Attic Reapers. The hissed loudly and charged, as all four of the bullies ran away in abject horror, screaming their heads off.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Work is currently preventing me from doing much of anything, but i'm gonna keep on keeping on. For love, for the gold. for THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA... which I wasn't even actually born in to begin with. My mother had me on a cruise ship, which still do this day nobody believes me about. ANYWAYS.

* * *

The following Monday came as it always did after an exciting weekend: a swift punch to the face, shattering any sort of calm one had built up the previous night. But, for Raiden, Allison, and Gabriel, it was significantly more calming, as they could quickly ignore the massive internal problems amongst themselves with the daily grind.

Something, however, was a bit off today. The school was much emptier than usual, with tens of students and even a few teachers not showing up, which Raiden inquired about over lunch. "Is it just me, or is the school an awful lot quieter this morning? I mean, barely anyone's here."

"Hey, look on the bright side!" Allie said, motioning with her head over at an empty table. "Portia and Maribel aren't here, so at least we don't have to worry about them ruining our day!" As the three sat down, Gabe nervously clicked his tongue as he stared around the nearly-desolate courtyard. "It does bother me, though. I mean. What could have caused this?"

"You're seriously worried about those jerks?" Allie asked. Gabe rolled his eyes. "Well, yes... err, no! Not in the way you'd think, though. I mean, what if there's some new super-virus making people sick, or some sort of creature mass kidnapping… again."

"I dunno, why'd they go through all of this again?" Ray asked. "I mean, I guess it could be something normal for once, right?" He saw Kevin walking through the rows of tables, and waved him over, scooting to the side for him to sit down next to him. "Hey, have you guys seen Lucy?" Kevin asked as he sat down. "I haven't seen her all day, and I'm wondering if she got sick, too."

Ray's eyes awkwardly shifted between Allie and Gabe, but he kept his cool and answered back with a half-smile. "Ah, I'm sure she's fine. Don't worry about it!"

A few hours passed, and in the meanwhile Janet Pierce-Okamoto and Denise Wallace had been in the midst of a sort of ladies' day out, talking about their sons and just enjoying each other's company. Denise had remembered around near the end of lunch that she'd forgotten to pick something up from her sister's house, and they decided to drop by there before heading back to their respective homes.

Of course, neither woman had been expecting to find her front door unlocked, or to find her in a rather disheveled state. Her eyes were agape, glazed over, and her jaw was clenched shut. She was slumped over in a chair, in a rather clumsy position, as if she'd just been plopped down like a doll. The strangest sight of all were the tiny little marks on her head, with six in an arc in the center of her forehead, almost resembling a tiny row of teeth.

Denise screeched in horror and Janet felt sick, covering her mouth in fear. Denise rushed to her sister's side, shaking her and calling her name, hoping to wake her up from her near catatonic state. A loud thumping noise coming from behind the house was the only thing to pry Janet's attention away, and she stepped outside to investigate.

As she neared the backyard, she sound the source: an Attic Reaper, its eyes light purple and sleepy, rusting around in a rubber nose, attempting to find a good position to fall asleep in. In fact, it was so preoccupied in this action, it didn't even notice when Janet scooped it up and threw it into her bag, zipping and clenching it tight. Looking around to make sure nobody had seen what had happened, she pulled out her phone and trotted back over to the front door.

"My phone was in the car, I'm calling an ambulance!" she quickly explained to Denise, who had managed to awaken her sister, but had no such luck in having her explain what exactly had happened. The two thought it best to cut their day short, and Janet proceeded to quickly walk her way to the Five Paths studio and down into the temple. At this point, the Attic Reaper in her bag was starting to stir, growling and squirming about, trying to free itself from the satchel.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Ray asked, having just come in himself. "Ray, this is something really, really important. Are any of your teachers around?" she responded, her eyes darting about the place. Master Jaha, with the apparent senses of a hawk, appeared on the steps of one of the higher rooms, gazing down at the both of them. As she slowly made her way down the sitars, Janet's bad proceeded to kick and rustle harder, as Janet's grip tightened harder.

"I do wonder how big of a problem it could be if you could contain it in there," Jaha uttered, as she finally got down the steps and face to face with Ray's mother. With a deep breath, Janet opened the bag, and the Attic Reaper leapt out with a loud hiss. Jaha blocked the creature with a mana pulse from her gauntlet, and it laid on the ground, too tired to move any further.

"An Attic Reaper," Master Jaha explained. "Capable of much more than you'd think." Lifting the tiny beast up in her withered old hands, she chuckled a bit. "That's what we have in common, I suppose. But, I digress. I have a feeling that this may be the source of all the children's absences at your school, Raiden." Ray cautiously walked closer and staring down at its resting form. "What can this little thing do?"

"Oh, nothing much," Master Jaha said, stroking it like a cat. "It can sink it's fangs into any bit of flesh it so desires, leave you paralyzed in a nightmare until someone can wake you from it, usually the 'someone' being a much larger monster looking for dinner. They also snore quite loudly." Janet and Ray both cringed, and then then turned to ask him "How many other kids were home sick today?"

"I dunno! I lot of them, I guess. I mean, I know me, Allie, Gabe, Kevin were at school…" Ray's eyes widened as the dawning horror hit him. "But Lucy wasn't." He bowed reverently towards Master Jaha. "I'll be right back, I left my phone upstairs, and there's something I've gotta check up on!" She nodded. "Fair enough. In the meanwhile, I'm to examine this little reaper to find out exactly where they're from."

* * *

Allie and Gabe had taken a slight detour from their lesson to visit Lucy in the meanwhile. Allison did have her second thoughts about her being fully alright, and just wanted to be sure before joining their friend to question the possible pandemic striking the school. "I'm just saying, it's a little weird that Ray's being totally passive about this whole thing!" she stage-whispered to Gabe, as she knocked on the front door.

"Well, it's Ray. He's kinda weird about his emotions, I mean, he could act like he doesn't care, but be wholly emotionally compromised that the mere thought of displaying any outward appearance puts an obscene amount of stress on… his… psyche." He could see her eyes glaze over as he went deeper into his explanation, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "He's just being Ray." He reiterated, and knocked on the door once more.

Lucy's elder sister, Rubi, answered the door. "Oh, uh, hello? You two selling cookies or something?" she questioned. "Oh, no!" Gabe said. "We're friends from her school, we're actually here to give her her homework, and you know, pop by to make sure she's still okay and that she's-"

"Help! We're helping her." Allie interrupted, not wanting Gabe to overthink his explanation. They were, after all, bringing her homework, and checking up on her, though the reasons for such were a bit more complicated. It was best just to give the basics and to nevermind all the rest. Rubi invited them in, and the teens walked into Lucy's room, where she was sleeping soundly in bed.

"Well, I think she looks okay." Gabe whispered, setting his backpack down and pulling out the homework papers on her bedside table with a casual whistle. "Man, I wish I got sick so that you could do my homework for me," Allie joked, but she then overheard a very familiar voice as Rubi answered the door again. "Uh, be right back." She said, and quickly walked out of the room to see who it was. Gabe nodded, and his phone softly rang in his pocket, with Ray's unmistakable personalized ringtone.

"Ray, I'm really sorry!" Gabe said, quickly answering. "We'll be there soon! It's just we decided that it was best for you to explain the situation, while we… you… you want me to do WHAT?! …well, okay."

Gabriel took a deep breath, and inched ever so closer to Lucy's bed. He quickly looked under it, and saw that it was completely barren, aside from a few socks and dust clumps. Now that he'd finished that part of the request, he leaned over the sleeping girl and brushed back the bangs on her head, checking for any bite marks or scratches.

As ill-fortune would have it, he lost his balance and landed on top of her. Oh, sure, he'd seen her skin was clear aside from a few moles and freckles, but he'd nearly crushed her. She yelped, and shoved Gabe off her, while Gabe frantically muttered scrambled apologies, his face flushing bright red. Kevin and Allie came into the room, as the two thankfully had become unattached from one another, and now seemed to be in a state of mild mussing.

"Oh, Lucy! You're awake!" Kevin said, his eyes lighting up. "I was really scared that something bad had happened, with all that's been going on at school." Lucy glared at Gabe, who sheepishly took Allie's side across the room. "Yeah, I'm awake now." She yawned and stretched, and then let what he'd said sink in. "Uh, what happened at school, again?"

"Oh, right, you weren't there! Um," Kevin began. "Well, I think something might've made most of the kids sick, like you, uh, could be the flu or some kind of virus…" As Kevin continued, Allison yanked Gabe out of the room and out of the house, telling Rubi that they'd remembered that they were late for their martial arts lesson. "What the heck happened back there with you and Lucy?!" she demanded after she'd slammed the door firmly behind them both. "Don't you have a thing with Sasha, or whatever?"

"First of all, that is extremely sensitive information!" Gabe said. "Second of all, I've just found out what made all the other kids at school sick."

Later that night, atop Tatsurian's back, Raiden and Chavez managed to track down a massive horde of Attic Reapers hiding on the pier of the bay, nestled within a fair amount of stacked wooden crates. Bob gently went down, landing with a dull thud on the concrete as the two duelists activated the lights in their gauntlets. "Be extremely quiet." Master Chavez whispered to Ray. "We don't know how many there are, or even they're even awake, so be-"

"And, here we have it, ladies and gentlemen!" a rather loud voice interrupted. It was a young man, a year or so older than Alakshmi, aided by a girl holding a video camera. "The one, the only, San Campion Bay! And, I, Conner Daniels –a bold, brave, handsome fellow! — have come to witness the mysterious sicknesses plaguing our youth, undoubtedly from the shipped goods from who knows where"

{Oh, not you again.} Hector groaned. Ray's eyes widened, and Bob shuffled backwards into the shade, unsure of what else to do. "Wait, isn't that the guy from Weird San Campion?" Ray asked, and the man turned as if on cue with a cartoonish grin on his face.

"Yes, indeed!" He cried, rushing forward to shake his hand. "And you are all being filmed live, streaming to 5000 people as we speak thanks to our state of the art technology! Jade here rigged it herself." The camerawoman give a thumbs up and continued recording. Conner then turned to Chavez, who was holding his head in his hands. "Out for a midnight stroll, eh, detective? Or, are you researching the ghastly horrors of what all this is occurring?"

"That doesn't even make… alright. Yes, I am out here for that." He sighed deeply. "But you need to calm down, turn that camera off, and go home." Conner was deeply offended. "Go? Now, with we face danger and dread? Surely, you jest!" He waltzed over to a crate, as the camerawoman followed him and Chavez deeply sighed again. "Danger is my middle name."

As he yanked open the crate with a grunt, Chavez spotted a dozen pairs of glowing white eyes nearing around its corner. "No, don't!" he cried out. Tatsurian, noticing the danger, raced forward with a roar, as Ray quickly rushed over to Conner to try and stop him. But, the door was just wide enough for another surge of the little darkness creatures to pour out, sending the place into a frenzy.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** I LIVE AGAIN.

* * *

Conner gave a high pitched squeal as he ran away from the massive horde of Darkness Creatures, ducking behind a stack of wooden crates, covered in nicks and scratches from near misses. Jade wasn't so lucky, she'd been readjusting her camera and hadn't any time to react before the flood broke out. Without thinking, she used the only weapon she could: the video camera, swinging it left and right to fend off the Attic Reapers attempting to bite her.

Bob and Ray smashed the pint size menaces, while Chavez summoned Gilaflame, the Assaulter. Gilaflame first made quick work of 'accidentally' disconnecting the stream, and then rushed around, smashing and banishing Attic Reapers with blazing speed. Conner, still watching from the sidelines loudly called out to Jade. "Hey, watch the camera! If that thing breaks, we'll be ruined!" His voice cracked as he spoke, tearing up but staying loud as ever. "RUINED!"

"Oh, jeez, I'm sorry," Jade said. "I'm just trying not to get murdered by demon fairies from the Black Swamp!" She huffed loudly, and then stomped another Reaper back across the veil. Ray grinned and turned to Master Chavez. "Looks like we're gonna get a new acolyte pretty soon, huh, Master C?" he asked, Bob blasting 5 away. Bob nodded, and with a chuckle, added: "She fights better than I did at her age."

"If she remembers," Master Chavez said, blocking an attempted attack. Ray shrugged, and went back to the battle, with the little monsters retreating back into the dark place where they'd emerged. Conner and Jade crept closer to the area, examining the suddenly pitch black room. Ray dismounted Tatsurian and joined, and Chavez quietly summoned two Cyber-Viruses to use on the reporters. Conner scoffed triumphantly, and turned to Jade with a cheeky grin.

"And now, dear viewers, we've uncovered a new mystery! The one of the dragon summoning detective father-son duo!" He said, once more turning to Chavez, who quickly pocketed the Water Creatures. "Tell me, is this a genetic send-off, or can anybody in your family do this?"

"I will be sure to tell you everything," Master Chavez boldly lied. "I just need you to look directly into this." He pulled out the cyber-virus, which clamped onto Conner's head, putting him in a trance. He pulled out the other one, but before he could do anything, the Attic Reapers suddenly lunged, pulling both Raiden and Jade into the box, and slamming the doors shut.

"RAY!" Both Chavez and Tatsurian yelled, and they ran to the crate. Gilaflame attempted to tear it open, but the combined weight of the Attic Reapers pressing up against the door and the locks made it nearly impossible. "We're tearing this thing open," Bob growled, digging his claws directly into the top of the metal casing.

Meanwhile, Raiden and Jade were completely overrun in a nearly pitch black cell, with hundreds of tiny claws and teeth slicing and chomping at them. Ray, using his shield in his gauntlet, managed to fight of quite a bit of them, but Jade was swiftly overtaken and dragged down into the mess of swarming creatures. Ray was getting tired too, which only worsened as he felt a sharp bite dig deep into the back of his neck. Losing his balance, he fell to the ground, clenching his eyes shut from the shock. The Attic Reapers swarmed, covering his entire body until all that could be seen was a veritable sea of their own kind.

* * *

Ray's eyes snapped open to a blinding white light. He groaned and squinted, and tried to rub the sudden shock out of his eyes. But, he found this just about impossible as his arms were strapped down, as well as his head, body, and legs. His eyes, being one of the only free things he could move, darted around the room as he took in his surroundings. It was a bright blue room, futuristic in design, with elements of a scientist's lab, or at least the ones he'd seen in movies. With all the highly advanced tech and neon lights hanging around, it almost reminded him of…

He suddenly became aware of another presence in the room. Whoever it was, they were in front of a table, humming softly to themselves as they worked on something that Ray couldn't quite see. But, Ray recognized the person in front of the desk, with his long blonde hair and 3-piece tailored suit, though the navy blue coat jacket was removed and his hair was a bit more unkempt.

"Th-the Choten?!"

"How did… what… I don't…" Ray gasped for the words as he tried to figure out the current predicament he was in. The Choten didn't seem to notice, or did not care as he continued to fiddle around with whatever was on the table before him. Ray strained against the electric straps pinning him to the table, though not entirely sure what he was going to do even if he were to escape. After a good thirty seconds, took a breath before the Choten turned around, a syringe and an empty injecting gun in his hand.

"Are you quite done yet?" He asked, loading the gun with a sharp click. "Or are you going to keep up with this hopeless act?" Stepping slowly towards the immobilized duelist, Ray did his best to keep a brave face, but it wavered with every inch The Choten moved closer.

"They're gonna find me!" Ray suddenly yelled out, his captor hovering directly above him. "They're gonna notice I'm gone, and they're go-!" The Choten's other hand slammed down hard on the space directly next to his head, as the other one clenched around the trigger of the injector, effectively shutting Raiden up.

"How naïve. You really think someone's going to find you in time," he hissed. "Well, let me give you a quick reminder: you are all alone. No little friends, no duel masters, no creatures, not even dear old papa is storming the castle to save you this time. You're all mine." And with that, the syringe pierced Ray's left arm. Ray's vision blurred and blended, the firey-hot pain of whatever the Choten had put in him feeling like it was making his entire body explode from the inside out. He clenched his eyes tightly, waiting for the pain to subside for all this to be over, for…

"RAIDEN. RAIDEN. WAKE UP!" Master Chavez's voice bellowed, as the muffled hissing of the Attic Reaper awoke Raiden from his nightmare. He felt all around his body, rubbing the area where he'd been pricked in his dream, it'd all felt so real. "Raiden," he repeated once again. "Breathe, it's alright. It isn't real. You're okay, whatever you saw was just a bad dream."

Ray looked around again; the crate was empty, thought massive indents and scratches embedded the ground, and Master Chavez was in front of him, making sure he wasn't too beaten up. Gilaflame was holding Jade gingerly, cradling her in his hands as she slept, the Attic Reaper removed from her neck. "Well, sign me up to never do that again!" Ray said, as he pushed open the door of the crate. Tatsurian nearly tackled him with relief, seeing that he was alright and holding him tightly. When Bob released, Ray sent him back in order to keep him from getting any more hurt, his left foot smacking a much desecrated camera, which was somehow still recording despite all its abuse as he did.

Gilaflame exited the torn open crate, Jade now cradled in Master Chavez's arms. He sent him back with a quick flick of the wrist, and called the Cyber Virus back to him. He set Jade down gently on the ground, as Conner's pupils widened, dilated, and then snapped back to normal as he blinked in confusion as to what happened. "Are we still doing the livestream? I think it's scheduled for to- OH MY GOSH."

He darted over to Jade's limp form, and started furiously shaking her. "Oh, no, no, no, no! Detective, what happened?!" Chavez, retaining an authoritative stature and tone, told him that there had been a chemical explosion, which had reacted due to a gas leak. Conner claimed this proved his theory right, as Jade stirred, mentioning having a nightmare about vampires, as she screamed at taking one look at the destroyed camera. Though, visibly upset, she claimed she could fix it with time to spare and upload.

The two duos then made on their merry way, neither noticing the video camera's tiny red light flashing and then swiftly shutting off.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I wanted to do something cute after all of my angst... have an awkward dad!

* * *

A month had passed since the last veil breach, and the city was calming down quite nicely, even if there were a handful of weak Attic Reapers attacking local stray animals. But, they could easily be hunted down and banished without a power struggle in the slightest. As of currently, Raiden and Allie were at a lunch with their fathers, who were in the midst of discussing déjà vu.

"I can assure you, I don't believe we've ever met formally. I have the best memory out of everyone in my family, and I'm _sure_ I'd remember someone like _you._ " Ken chuckled softly at his own inside joke, and Ray nearly choked on his drink upon hearing it, stifling back a laugh himself. Allie was enjoying the conversation as well, but was messing around with her phone as well. She suddenly gave a very exasperated sigh as a small beep of a notification popped up.

"What's up?" Ray asked, as Allie pocketed her phone in disgust. "Ugh, nothing _important_. Just spam being sent from whoever's running Carny's dad's re-election campaign. _As if! **"**_ She mimed vomiting as her father scoffed in annoyance.

"Man, what I wouldn't give for someone to give him what he deserves! Someone brave, strong-worded, firmly grasping his beliefs with both hands and not taking no for an answer…" He froze immediately as an idea came to him. "Someone like you!" he said, directing his attention to Ray's father.

"…What?" Ken looked up, with an almost horrified tone in and upon his face. "No. I'm sorry, what?! I-I have no idea how politics even work! I was a fisherman, and that is not exactly a job for someone you'd consider a 'people person' or... whatever you think I'm cut out to be."

"You're humble, too! It'll work beautifully." Artie was getting a dreamy look on his face as he stared off into the space above Ken's shoulder. Allie and Raiden sat quietly, stewing quietly in the secondhand embarrassment. "And I'll be your campaign manager, I can do that just fine. Not, uh, not good with crowds. More of a one-on-one guy." He held out his hand. "What do you say?"

Ken hesitated, but deemed the most polite course of action was to agree. After all, it was most likely just a spur of the moment decision or joke, and he wasn't going to act upon it. He firmly took his hand, only to be pulled into an awkward half-hug over the table. A rather _tight_ awkward hug. "This is gonna be great, just you wait and see!"

"I… can't wait." Ken grumbled under his breath with a guttural sigh. The rest of the lunch proceeded to consist of Mr. Underhill loudly talking about the best ways to get media attention, brainstorming campaign slogans (as well as posters) as Ken could only sit by idly and pray for it to mercifully end soon. And, while it did, this only led him to more discomfort.

"I don't understand him," Ken said to Master Nadia, as she watched over Panoptic. "He's borderline _obsessed_ with this campaign, and we haven't even begun it yet! Why is it that I'm to be his cure-all to his crippling lack of self-image?"

"I think the better question is why you came to discuss politics with me," Master Nadia said sardonically. "My views are a bit more eccentric." She stopped, and then gasped quietly as she zoomed in on a stalker-sphere taken from downtown San Campion, of a Specter creature exiting from a man-made portal directly outside the city's bank.

"Mm, equal creature rights is more up Ray's…" Ken noticed it as well, despite being lost in his own thoughts. "Not this again. I'll take care of this." He turned to leave, only for Nadia to suddenly grab his shoulder. "Master Chavez is the closest to the area, Takahashi." She said, only to sigh and shrug. "But, if it will help you get your mind off of this politics nonsense. Go."

"That… seems a bit weird."

"Exactly my thoughts! I just don't understand it."

Master Chavez and Ken were now both atop the bank's roof, as Roaming Bloodmane and Gilaflame both viciously attacked the Specter, which was clutching a disc in one of its claws. He'd been a bit less blunt to Ken's venting, but hadn't much else to offer him in advice. As of current, the main course of action was to both banish the creature and reclaim the disc without a scratch. Of course, nobody said anything about not being allowed to multi-task.

"Why doesn't _he_ just speak? There's no real point in using _me_ as a buffer, right?" Ken complained, dodging a blast of Darkness energy and putting up his shields as he recoiled from the near miss.

"He's extremely shy, even you know that. He needs to put others on pedestals to make himself feel better about his own feelings." Chavez motioned for Gilaflame to divert the attack towards itself and away from the tops of the other buildings.

"That's extremely articulate, considering…" His sentence was cut off as Bloodmane was launched backwards by an attack and nearly hit him.

"My father _was_ a doctor." He said, as Gilaflame sped forwards into the Specter, arm blades coated in flame and teeth bared. But, this seemed to be all they could do to it, as it disappeared transparently into the night carrying the disc. Ken growled in annoyance as he watched it leave, this being a horrible end to an equally horrible day. But, like everything else in his life, this was interrupted by a banging on the door leading up to the roof.

Chavez and Ken quickly banished their creatures, and rushed over to open the door. Out came Ariana, the head security chief of the building, still looking a bit worse for wear after nearly being attacked by the creature. "What… what just happened? What did you see?" she gasped, clearly out of breath. "Hey, aren't you Ken Okamoto?"

Ken froze, and nearly sputtered out "Yes…? I am." Her face lit up, and she nearly yelled out her response. "Well! I guess you're really all Arthur made you up to be. Not sure how you got on the roof, but I appreciate your help. Good thing you're running for mayor and not security guard, or I'd be out of a job."

"Well, at least you're getting good publicity," Chavez whispered to Ken as the older man could feel the dread building up inside of him. Oh, there was no turning back from this now.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey. I'm really sorry about being away for... what, half a year? A really bad thing happened in my family, so I kinda was occupied at the moment. But it's all good now. Slight apology for Kaijudo: Year 2, I'm putting that on the backburner until I finish Magic, Schmagic. And Villains Drabbles will probably be spotty too, but I've got some ideas planned for it (iiiiiiiiiincluding an AU).

Anyways, hey, I'm back! This chapter will be replaced shortly.


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